Staying in

STAYING IN THISSPRING

If you like mystery, fantasy or timeless music, MYKE BARTLETT has something for you.

Books

It’s a bumper month for fans of detective fiction. Top of the pile is the delightful new page turner from Richard Osman, The Bullet That Missed. This is the third in the series that began with The Thursday Murder Club, in which the residents at a retirement village set out to solve cold cases that have a habit of getting very hot very fast. The real hero is Elizabeth, a retired spook whose plans and investigations are generally as fiendish as the villains she and her fellow retirees bring to justice. In the latest book, she faces a foe from the past who intends to finish her off once and for all. It’s rare for a crime book to be this much fun and, while the mysteries are increasingly far-fetched, it’s impossible not to delight in how witty and twisty the whole adventure is.

Bottom of the pile (if only for reasons of weight) is The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith (AKA JK Rowling). This is another instalment in his (or her) Strike series, in which a pair of modern London private eyes solve baroque and sometimes gruesome murders. In this, a web cartoonist seeks help from our heroes after being persecuted by an anonymous online troll. When she turns up dead a few days later, the detectives are drawn into the murky world of social media. It’s a ripping read and Rowling again proves herself to be a first class crime writer, with an eye for social issues that can make some quarters uncomfortable.

Closer to home, the arrival of a new Jane Harper (author of The Dry) is always cause for excitement. Exiles is the third and final adventure for federal investigator Aaron Falk, whose investigations have taken him to different extremes of the Australian landscape. We’ve had unrelenting rural heat, the wintery chill of the mountains and, now, the lush valleys of wine country. As always, Harper writes with a journalist’s eye for frank detail, a gift for atmosphere and a clear sympathy for her flawed characters.

If you’re after something free of murder, consider Peggy Frew’s Wildflowers– a stunning portrait of the complicated bonds that develop between sisters – or The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, Emma Carey’s incredible and inspirational true story about falling 14,000 feet and surviving, and what came next as she adjusted to life as a paraplegic.

LEFT: The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power RIGHT: The Sandman

TV

If dragons, orcs and elves are your bag, then you’re in luck. Tolkien fans the world over have been holding their breath (and polishing their rings) in preparation for The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power (Amazon Prime). Based on the books that haven’t already been turned into blockbuster films, the series takes us back in time a couple of thousand years to the dawn of the Second Age. Which possibly means something to you if you’re a devotee of Middle Earth. Stuffed with top notch British thespians and laced with stunning visuals, the show is thought to be the most expensive TV series ever made.

Also packed with British talent and also backwards-looking is Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon (BINGE). This spin off from the fantasy series of the twenty-first century, is set two hundred years before Ned Stark and his clan. It’s good news for wig-makers, as the prequel concerns the House of Targaryen, who are as famous for their platinum blond locks as they are their dragon collection. While just as gruesome as the original, there’s a sense that show has a bit more maturity than its predecessor, content to dwell on character interplay instead of brutal action sequences. If you prefer something weirder, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman (Netflix) has all the makings of a cult classic. Based on a series of comics, the show follows Dream (a close relation of Death) as he attempts to restore the magical realm of The Dreaming after being imprisoned by occultists for a hundred years or so. It’s strange and seductive stuff, if a little meandering.

Music

Riding on the coattails of the recent Beatles TV series, Paul McCartney’s Get Back (ViaVision) arrives on blu-ray met by a new wave of affection for the songsmith. Hailing from 1991, this film intercuts flashes of backstage action with footage from McCartney’s world tour of the previous year. Being his first tour in more than a decade, the set list was packed with all the hits, making this a live show well worth revisiting in this new scrubbed-up, high-definition form.

To win a copy of Paul McCartney’s Get Back, email media@diabeteswa.com.au with your member number and GET BACK in the subject line.